Todd English: Fast Casual Chain Loses 2 Figs?

By JULIETTE ROSSANT According to Todd English's latest press release for the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, the English empire (The Olive Group) has contracted a bit again: The Olives restaurant brand holds steady at six (6) locations The one-off restaurant brands added one restaurant earlier this year to bring that number up to seven (7), although the new restaurant has received no stars from The New York Times Most notably, "The Olive Group also includes three Figs locations." Only three (3) Figs? Back in 2000, there were five (5) Figs outlets, as was still the case through 2003 (see Super Chef, p. 108). The number has fluctuated, depending on the website. Older sites like ExtremeChefs list only the four Boston area outlets. More recently, there have been four outlets listed in publicity such as Chef's Theater, but a BermudaTourism lists five, including two at La Guardia, and Todd's own FishClub site lists six outlets. Part of the confusion seems to depend on whether you count LaGuardia as one or two restaurants. There are two outlets connected between two floors at LaGuardia: a cafe in Departures on one floor, and a restaurant on the other. However, Todd's website has always counted LaGuardia as one. Clearly, at least Figs Chestnut Hill has closed, and another restaurant called the Metropolitan Club opened in its old space in early 2004 -- with much fanfare, the MET Club is proud to say, from The Boston Globe and other area papers. As it is, Todd's website lists four outlets (including La Guardia) as of this morning: if the most recent press release is correct, is another about to close? Granted, the Figs chain has had some problems. For Super Chef, the new operations manager Sam Slattery described how he had targeted Figs as the first fix to create "controlled, sustainable growth" amidst a corporate culture in which there was "a real lack of financial accountablity and awareness" (see Super Chef, p. 119). At that time, Todd was also trying to raise money to buy back a majority control of the chain, so he could expand it. It was seem that Todd was unsuccessful in raising the money, while the chain is proving unruly enough as to lead its investors to close two of five units. Moving to lower price point restaurants cannot be an easy concept for a Fine Dining chef. Wolfgang Puck has opened and either reconfigured or closed a number of concepts over the years (see Super Chef, pp. 7-49, particularly pp. 44-46). In that light, Todd has only tried one fast casual concept: he needs to try try again. If Todd continues to want to become the Wolfgang Puck of the East, he needs to keep reminding to himself, "Up from the ashes, up from the ashes, grow the roses of success." And he may well get there. Previous articles: Branding: Todd English, Beer Gourmet Cooking Under Fire: Doused Romancing the Stove - or The Way We Worked? Todd English: Pitching After Puck? English is Italian: No Stars Cooking Under Fire: Already Over Done? Todd English's Foodie Hotel Todd English: Pots and Pans Pucked? Todd English: Childrens Oscars (Update) Ming Tsai TV Todd English Winner Gets "English is Italian"? Todd English Slums With Jeffrey Chodorow Todd English: Trip Over Table? More Halloween Mexicana, from Rick Bayless Todd English Flipflops between Bush and Kerry? Iron Chef: America vs. USA Todd English: American Chef Gone Wild Technorati Tags: chefs food restaurants cooking branding cuisine fast food quick service restaurants food chains --> back to superchefblog